1885-1960 Belgian colonial architecture

Leopoldville, 1958: aerial view of the Avenue Ryckmans with
administrative buildings on the left and the newly built residence of
the Governor-general of the Belgian Congo in the back (with the Congo
river behind it).

Leopoldville/Kinshasa

The Presidential Palace, currently occupied by President Joseph Kabila,
in Gombe, Kinshasa. This is the former residence of the Governor-general
that can be seen on the previous picture in the back. The palace should
not be approached nor photographed, hence the rather poor quality of
the picture…

St Anne church and convent in the central Gombe district of Kinshasa,
with the Mobutu-era Sozacom building (Société Zaïroise de Commerce) in
the background.

Forescom building (1945-48), Leopoldville.

Main building of the "Foundation médicale de l'Université de Louvain"
(Fomulac) in Kisantu, July 2008, still in use as a school building.

View on part of the university campus, Unikin, Kimwenza-Kinshasa.
Faculty buildings in the front and university cathedral in the back. The
university campus , the first of the Congo, was built from 1953 onward.

Op Mont Galiema kijkt het standbeeld van Albert I vanaf het Etnografisch
Museum nog steeds uit over de skyline van Kinshasa. Het standbeeld
stond tot in de jaren 1960 op het plein voor het centraal station van
Kinshasa, aan het begin van de Boulevard du 30 juin (toen Blvd. Albert
I).

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Nemo

Kisantu, Bas-Congo (some 120 km
south of Kinshasa)

The catholic cathedral in Kisantu, Bas-Congo (some 120 km south of
Kinshasa), reputedly the largest church building in the Congo.

Kisantu kathedraal interieur

Mbanza-Ngungu

Old colonial villa in Mbanza-Ngungu, Bas-Congo.

Old villa. Mbanza-Ngungu was much favoured by colonialists because of
its mild climate and moderate temperatures (at 700 metres above sea
level).

Old colonial villa. It once housed one family, now four.

With its hill-top villas, bustling centre and railway connection
Mbanza-Ngungu (formerly Thysville) has a certain cosmopolitan air. The
"hotel Cosmopolite" dates from colonial times but seems to have gone out
of business.

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Gerenoveerde directeurswoning, vroegere palmolie-plantage SAB, Wendji,
Evenaarsprovincie.

Bamanya

1930s church built by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Bamanya,
near Mbandaka, Equateur province.